Vancouver Whitecaps forward Emmanuel Sabbi has credited his attacking team-mates for their clinical nature ahead of this week's trip to Sporting Kansas City.

Before a 4-0 win over Forge in the Canadian Championship final, Vancouver beat St. Louis City 3-2 and thrashed Eastern Conference Leaders Philadelphia Union 7-0.

Sabbi was one of four goalscorers against the Union, with his brace overshadowed by Thomas Muller’s first MLS hat-trick, while Mathias Laborda and Rayan Elloumi also netted.

The Whitecaps are third in the Western Conference, four points behind leaders San Diego FC with two games in hand on their rivals.

They face Kansas City, who still have an outside chance of making the playoffs, in their next match on the road on Saturday.

Sabbi conceded that away fixtures are generally more difficult, but he is backing Vancouver’s attacking department to get the job done.

“Football can be very demanding,” said Sabbi ahead of the match.

“We try to get in the best places possible and try to feed each other. We try to be clinical in front of goal and that is what we have been doing over the last couple of games, so we are looking to continue that.

“We are just looking to play how we have been playing, not over-stressing or thinking too much. I think our strong suit is keeping our runs going, so that’s what we will look to do.

“Our performances have been good. We have been dialled in during training, moved that to the pitch and showed that we are a tough team who are trying to get better.

“When you go away, the home team are always favourites, but we know what we are going up against, and we looked to be mentally and physically prepared for the game on Saturday.”

Sporting KC are 13th in the West after back-to-back defeats, eight points adrift of the playoff picture and needing several favours from elsewhere to make the top nine.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Sporting Kansas City – Dejan Joveljic

Joveljic has scored 11 of his 17 goals in home matches this season, with his 11 home goals being tied for the third most in MLS in 2025.

Since the beginning of last season, Joveljic has scored 26 of his 38 total MLS goals at home (regular season and playoffs), the most by any MLS player.

Vancouver Whitecaps – Thomas Muller

After also adding an assist to his three goals against Philadelphia last time out, Muller became the third different Vancouver player (after Brian White and Jayden Nelson) to record four goal contributions in a match this season.

The German forward was rested for their comfortable victory against Forge and will hope to score in three consecutive MLS games, after also finding the net against St. Louis.

MATCH PREDICTION – VANCOUVER WHITECAPS WIN

Vancouver have won three straight matches against Kansas City, while neither team has won four consecutive regular-season games in the fixture. The Whitecaps’ longest winning streak against a single opponent in the regular season is four games against Real Salt Lake (2014-2015).

Kansas City have had two different losing streaks of three or more games this regular season and have lost their last two matches. In the post-shootout era, the only time the club has had three losing streaks of three or more games in league play was last season.

Against Philadelphia, Vancouver became the fourth different team to score seven goals in an MLS match during the 2025 regular season (with the Chicago Fire, New York Red Bulls and Nashville SC), the most in a single season in league history. It was the most goals the club has scored in a match in its MLS era.

In their last six league matches, Sporting KC have won one and lost five. The Whitecaps, meanwhile, have won three, drawn two and lost one in their last six.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Sporting Kansas City – 25.9%

Draw – 23.4%

Vancouver Whitecaps – 50.6%